HUNTINGTON – A man’s estate has sued St. Mary’s Medical Center and a physician, claiming the man died because of improper care after an elective coronary bypass.
Cheryl Lynette Thompson, administratrix of the estate of Harold Frederick Walker, filed the complaint in Cabell Circuit Court against St. Mary’s Medical Center and Dr. Nepal C. Chowdhury.
According to the complaint, Walker was admitted to St. Mary’s on July 3, 2019, for an elective coronary bypass surgery. Chowdhury performed the surgery, and Walker was kept in the open-heart recovery room overnight.
The next day, Walker was transferred to the cardiac stepdown unit. The following day, he had a significant amount of bleeding from his chest tube. He became unresponsive with no pulse. He was revived and taken to surgery immediately.
On July 6, Walker was transferred to University of Kentucky. He died the next day. His death certificate lists the cause of death as “cardiogenic shock due to or as a result of S/P Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.”
Thompson accuses the defendants of medical negligence by failing to timely diagnose Walker’s condition following his coronary bypass, namely his complaints of pain, anemia, lack of urine output and blood loss.
She seeks joint and several compensatory damages as well as punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
Thompson is being represented by D. Adrian Hoosier of the Hoosier Law Firm in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Paul T. Farrell.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 20-C-77